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en-usThu, 22 Feb 2018 00:23:56 -0500Thu, 22 Feb 2018 00:23:56 -0500The latest news from Politicshttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/dana-loesch-calls-nikolas-cruz-an-insane-monster-who-shouldnt-have-had-a-gun-2018-2NRA spokeswoman calls the Parkland gunman an 'insane monster' who should never have gotten a gunhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/NHF-pWmZzVY/dana-loesch-calls-nikolas-cruz-an-insane-monster-who-shouldnt-have-had-a-gun-2018-2
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 00:22:53 -0500Bryan Logan<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e534087faf255018b477a-943/rtx4yb3tsmall.jpg" alt="Dana Loesch" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Michael Laughlin/Pool" data-mce-caption="National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch (R) answers a question while sitting next to Broward Sheriff Scott Israel during a CNN town hall meeting, at the BB&amp;T Center, in Sunrise, Florida, U.S. February 21, 2018." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association took some pointed questions during a raucous CNN town-hall event on gun violence Wednesday night.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The gathering featured students, educators, politicians, law-enforcement officials and others who spoke on the deadly mass shooting that rocked Parkland, Florida, last week, and possible solutions going forward.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The discussion went off the rails at several points, especially during the segment that featured Loesch and the Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who confronted the NRA spokeswoman on stage.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />The National Rifle Association spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, took some heat at a town-hall event on gun violence Wednesday night, which featured impassioned dialogue between students, parents, educators, and politicians.</p>
<p>The discussion at the BB&amp;T Center in Sunrise, Florida, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-town-hall-on-gun-violence-parkland-florida-highlights-nra-2018-2">had been heated from the start</a>, but seemed to hit a fever pitch once Loesch argued on behalf of the NRA.</p>
<p>Emma Gonzalez, one of the most vocal survivors of the February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/02/22/emma-gonzalez-dana-loesch-full-parkland-town-hall.cnn">asked Loesch</a> whether she believes it should be more difficult for people to obtain semi-automatic weapons and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-bump-stock-ban-after-florida-shooting-las-vegas-2018-2">modifications like bump stocks</a> that can mimic fully automatic weapons.</p>
<p>"I don't believe that this insane monster should have ever been able to obtain a firearm, ever" Loesch said, referring to the 19-year-old Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz. "I do not think that he should have gotten his hands on any kind of weapon."</p>
<p>"This individual was nuts, and I &mdash; nor the millions of people that I represent as a part of this organization that I'm here speaking for &mdash; none of us support people who are crazy, who are a danger to themselves, who are a danger to others, getting their hands on a firearm," Loesch said.</p>
<p>The NRA spokeswoman insisted that she is fighting for survivors like Gonzalez, so they won't have to "be in this position again."</p>
<p>That comment apparently did not sit well with some of the attendees, including Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who challenged Loesch on the assertion: "You're not standing up for them until you say, 'I want less weapons,'" Israel said, amid raucous cheering and applause.</p>
<p>Loesch, at points, highlighted some missed red flags she said contributed to allowing people like Cruz, to fly under the radar, but Israel pushed back, insisting that law-enforcement officers worked to the best of their ability in that regard.</p>
<p>Israel added that officials "need the power to take people out of their homes" under Florida state law if their behaviors indicate that they may be a danger to themselves or others.</p>
<p>The debate over how much culpability to apply to gun-advocacy groups like the NRA has been fraught and largely unresolved, even as mass-shootings have increased in regularity in the US.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-daily-news-trump-nra-cover-2018-2" >New York Daily News tears into Trump's response to the Parkland mass shooting: 'He never mentioned a word' about 'guns flooding our streets'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dana-loesch-calls-nikolas-cruz-an-insane-monster-who-shouldnt-have-had-a-gun-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/NHF-pWmZzVY" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>REUTERS/Michael Laughlin/Poolhttp://www.businessinsider.com/dana-loesch-calls-nikolas-cruz-an-insane-monster-who-shouldnt-have-had-a-gun-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-crisis-under-obamacare-trump-report-2018-2Trump administration says it's 'concerned' about opioid crisis that 'exploded' under Obamacarehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/fBx-1bSUVZA/opioid-crisis-under-obamacare-trump-report-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:59:00 -0500Bob Bryan<p><strong><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/59f9d84b58a0c11e008b4bb7-2000/rtswoj2.jpg" alt="Donald Trump and barack Obama" data-mce-source="Carlos Barria/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Donald Trump and Barack Obama" /></strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers released a report Wednesday on the administration's healthcare policies.</strong></li>
<li><strong>In the report, the CEA noted that the increase in opioid-related deaths exploded around the same time as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Republicans have suggested that Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid may have contributed to the opioid crisis, though research disputes the assertion.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />President Donald Trump's Council of Economic Advisers <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/innovative-policies-to-improve-all-americans-health/">released a report Wednesday</a> detailing the administration's work to roll back the Affordable Care Act, and at one point in the report noted that the law's passage came around the same time as the opioid crisis worsened.</p>
<p>The post criticized the law known as Obamacare for its focus on bringing down the number of uninsured Americans, which the CEA said did not necessarily translate to a healthier population.</p>
<p><span>"Determinants of health other than insurance and medical care &mdash; such as drug abuse, diet and physical activity leading to obesity, and smoking &mdash; have a tremendous impact and have exacerbated recent declines in life expectancy, despite the ACA&rsquo;s increased coverage," the post said.</span></p>
<p>As part of the post, the CEA authors also discussed the growing number of overdose deaths from opioids.</p>
<p>"<span>This Administration is focused on reversing the harm caused by the ACA by fostering competition, choice, and innovation while also addressing the many factors beyond insurance that influence health," the post reads. "The Administration is particularly concerned about the opioid crisis that exploded during the ACA expansion."</span></p>
<p>While the CEA did not directly tie the ACA to the growing opioid crisis, other Republicans have recently been more explicit about a possible link between the law's implementation and the opioid crisis.</p>
<p>Sen. Ron Johnson,&nbsp;<span>chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/majority-media/chairman-johnson-releases-report-on-how-medicaid-has-helped-to-fuel-the-opioid-epidemic-">released a report</a> in January linking Medicaid generally and the law's expansion of Medicaid specifically to the increase in overdose deaths.</span><span></span></p>
<p><span>"</span>This report is not meant to suggest that Medicaid, or any other federal program, is the only factor contributing to the opioid epidemic," Johnson's report said. "But if Medicaid is helping to drive the epidemic, it stands to reason that expanding the program &mdash; particularly to people most susceptible to abuse &mdash; could worsen the problem. The epidemic has indeed spiraled into a national crisis since the Obamacare Medicaid expansion took effect in 2014."</p>
<p>DJ Norquist, chief of staff for the CEA, told Business Insider that Johnson's report resembles their offices thinking on the issue.</p>
<p>"<span>We agree with Senator Johnson that government policies are an overlooked part of the problem," Norquist said in an email.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20170823.061640/full/">In a 2017 study in Health Affairs</a>, health policy researchers Andrew Goodman-Bacon and&nbsp;</span><span>Emma Sandoe found that the evidence linking the ACA's Medicaid expansion and the opioid crisis was tenuous at best.</span></p>
<p><span>"While we do not reject the possibility that public policy has played a role in our current prescription abuse crisis, on balance we find little evidence to support the idea that Medicaid caused or worsened the epidemic," the study said.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hhs-rule-short-term-insurance-obamacare-change-2018-2" >The Trump administration just made another big move to reshape the healthcare system</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-crisis-under-obamacare-trump-report-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/fBx-1bSUVZA" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Carlos Barria/Reutershttp://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-crisis-under-obamacare-trump-report-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-daily-news-trump-nra-cover-2018-2New York Daily News tears into Trump's response to the Parkland mass shooting: 'He never mentioned a word' about 'guns flooding our streets'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/4_4WlkGxM98/new-york-daily-news-trump-nra-cover-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 23:15:00 -0500Tara Francis Chan<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e3c7c391d9422008b47f3-1000/trump%20cover.jpg" alt="Trump Cover" data-mce-source="Daily News"></p><p></p>
<p>The New York Daily News touted a provocative front-page cover ahead of publication on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>The illustration shows President Donald Trump, his mouth taped over with the the logo of the National Rifle Association.</p>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
“Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war," Samuel Zeif said through tears<br><br>An early look at Thursday's front: <a href="https://t.co/93DoedB4zb">https://t.co/93DoedB4zb</a> <a href="https://t.co/HTi7Z6VR2p">pic.twitter.com/HTi7Z6VR2p</a> </p>— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/966480114744807424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 22, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p>The cover appears to be a response to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2">listening session at the White House</a> hosted by the president on Wednesday. During the session students, parents, teachers and other officials discussed their experiences of the February 14 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, and potential responses moving forward.</p>
<p>During the session, Trump spoke of strengthening background checks, providing more treatment to people who have mental illnesses and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2">arming teachers with guns</a>.</p>
<p>But the Daily News appears to be targeting the actual number of guns Americans own, saying on its cover that Trump "never mentioned a word about the 300 million guns flooding our streets."</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-daily-news-trump-nra-cover-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/4_4WlkGxM98" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Daily Newshttp://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-daily-news-trump-nra-cover-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-cnn-town-hall-parkland-shooting-2018-2Your words have been 'pathetically weak': Marco Rubio gets an earful at CNN town hall on Parkland shootinghttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/c7Yc2LSsh6s/marco-rubio-cnn-town-hall-parkland-shooting-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 22:13:43 -0500David Choi<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e2c6a391d941e008b47c5-1373/screen shot 2018-02-21 at 63454 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2018 02 21 at 6.34.54 PM" data-mce-source="CNN" /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The father of a Parkland school shooting victim criticized Rep. Sen. Marco Rubio during a CNN town-hall event.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Rubio appeared to agree with the idea of enacting new gun measures, including raising the age limit to purchase AR-15-style rifles.</strong></li>
<li><strong>But he stopped short of supporting a ban on assault-style weapons.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />The father of a victim of the Parkland school shooting criticized Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida during a CNN town-hall event on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Fred Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was one of the 17 people killed in the deadly February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.</p>
<p>"I just listened to your opening, and thank you. I want to like you," Guttenberg said after Rubio gave his opening remarks. "Here's the problem &mdash; and I'm a brutally honest person so I'm just going to say it up front. When I like you, you know it, and when I'm pissed at you, you know it. Your comments this week and those of our president have been pathetically weak."</p>
<p>"You and I are now eye-to-eye. Cause I want to like you," Guttenberg continued. "Look at me and tell me guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week, and look at me and tell me you accept it and you will work with us to do something about guns."</p>
<p>Rubio's next words were met with boos from the crowd.</p>
<p>"The problems that we are facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone," Rubio said.</p>
<p>"Were guns the factor in the hunting of our kids?" Guttenberg said.</p>
<p>"Of course they were," Rubio replied. "I absolutely believe that in this country, if you are 18 years of age, you should not be able to buy a rifle and I will support a law that takes that right away."</p>
<p>"Fantastic," Guttenberg said approvingly.</p>
<h2>What Rubio can &mdash; and can't &mdash; support</h2>
<p>Rubio then appeared to hint he could support some new restrictions on guns, including banning bump stocks, a device that can be added to a semi-automatic weapon to make it fire more rapidly. President Donald Trump on Tuesday <a href="http://businessinsider.com/trump-bump-stock-ban-after-florida-shooting-las-vegas-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed the Justice Department to propose a ban</a> on the devices, but many think a solution would need to come from Congress.</p>
<p>"I will support the banning of bump stocks," Rubio said. "I will support changing our background system so that it includes more information than it includes now, and that all states across the country are required or incentivized to report all the information into it."</p>
<p>Rubio floated the possibility of reconsidering his stance on high-capacity magazines, which allows a shooter to fire more rounds than the standard magazine. Though Rubio previously opposed legislation to limit high-capacity magazines, he acknowledged that not having it during the Parkland shooting "would have made it less lethal."</p>
<p>Rubio also said he would support raising the age limit to buy a rifle. But he wavered on what Guttenberg appeared to be trying to push him to support &mdash; a ban on assault-style weapons.</p>
<p>"If I believe that that law would have prevented this from happening, I would support it," Rubio said amid shouts from the crowd. "But I want to explain to you why it would not."</p>
<p>"My daughter running down the hallway at Marjory Stoneman Douglas was shot in the back with an assault weapon," Guttenberg said. "The weapon of choice. OK? It is too easy to get. It is a weapon of war. The fact that you can't stand with everybody in this building and say that? I'm sorry."</p>
<p>Rubio appeared to agree with the danger that assault-style weapons posed and gave a few examples of problems with a proposed assault weapons ban, such as a wide range of other guns that would be banned due to the language of the bill.</p>
<p>"My belief remains, that rather than continue to try to chase every loophole that's created ... is we instead should make sure that dangerous criminals, people that are deranged cannot buy any gun of any kind," Rubio said.</p>
<p>"Your answer speaks for itself," Guttenberg said.</p>
<p>At least 17 people were killed after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz used an AR-15-style weapon to gun down students and teachers at the high school. The Florida state legislature <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/21/health/florida-legislature-porn-dangerous-but-not-weapons/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted</a> 71-36 to reject a measure to consider banning the sale of assault weapons on Tuesday.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2" >'I am enraged': Father of Parkland shooting victim blasts the listening session Trump held with mass-shooting survivors</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-cnn-town-hall-parkland-shooting-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/c7Yc2LSsh6s" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>CNNhttp://www.businessinsider.com/marco-rubio-cnn-town-hall-parkland-shooting-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-town-hall-on-gun-violence-parkland-florida-highlights-nra-2018-2Students, parents, educators, politicians, and the NRA engage in a heated discussion on gun violencehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/8BwIFHE9t1o/cnn-town-hall-on-gun-violence-parkland-florida-highlights-nra-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 21:37:44 -0500Bryan Logan<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e2b15e0bd3b2a008b4993-2000/cnntownhall1.png" alt="cnn town hall" data-mce-source="Screenshot via CNN" /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Students, parents, educators, and the NRA gathered under one roof on Wednesday night to talk about how best to move forward one week after a mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school claimed 17 lives.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The town-hall style event hosted by CNN's Jake Tapper follows days of heated discourse over gun rights in America.</strong></li>
<li><strong>President Donald Trump held a listening session with school-shooting survivors earlier Wednesday, but declined an invite to attend the town hall, CNN said, though he has indicated his willingness to explore new gun-reform options.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />A town-hall meeting held in Sunrise, Florida, on Wednesday night brought together students, parents, educators, politicians, and the NRA under one roof to talk about ways to move forward, one week after the February 14 school shooting that ended the lives of 17 people.</p>
<p>The event, hosted by CNN's Jake Tapper, comes after days of heated discourse around gun rights in America. That discussion focused acutely on whether laws should be changed in order to help prevent mass shootings. Such incidents have increased in regularity over the past two decades.</p>
<p>Dubbed "Stand Up: The Students of Stoneman Douglas Demand Action," the town hall opened with a tribute to the 17 people who were killed in the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.</p>
<p>Within the first five minutes, Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator from Florida, called for "getting assault rifles off the streets," prompting a standing ovation.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida followed Nelson, acknowledging the shortcomings of his own party with regard to gun-law reform, and lamenting the fraught political discourse currently roiling the US. Rubio soon got an earful from Fred Guttenberg, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2">the father of a 14-year-old girl who was killed</a> in the Parkland, Florida, shooting.</p>
<p>Guttenberg told Rubio that his words and those of President Donald Trump on the matter of gun violence have been "pathetically weak."</p>
<p>Trump earlier Wednesday floated the possibility of arming teachers as a deterrent. The idea received mixed reaction, including from a Stoneman Douglas High School teacher, Ashley Kurth, who asked Rubio for his thoughts on the proposal. Rubio said he does not support it. Sen. Nelson echoed the same.</p>
<p>Kurth, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pro-gun-survivors-message-to-trump-after-parkland-florida-shooting-2018-2">who is a pro-gun, pro-Trump voter</a>, urged Trump and congressional leaders last week to take action on gun reform.</p>
<p>In another particularly heated exchange, a student confronted Rubio, asking him to say whether or not he would accept contributions from the National Rifle Association. Rubio did not answer the question, prompting some jeers from the audience. Rubio insisted that his campaign donors buy into his agenda, and he asserted that he does not serve theirs.</p>
<p>Student survivors of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas have been especially vocal in the days after the shooting, and that remained true at Wednesday night's town hall. They challenged lawmakers to answer for their actions or lack thereof on gun-law reform.</p>
<p>"Will my school campus be safe when I return," one student asked. In response, Florida Rep. Ted Deutch said Florida law-enforcement officials, school administrators, and "everyone who's focused on school security" would ensure student safety.</p>
<p>Deutch also made a broader point, urging federal lawmakers to follow through on legislation <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-bump-stock-ban-after-florida-shooting-las-vegas-2018-2">banning bump stocks</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-position-on-gun-reform-stronger-background-checks-2018-2">beefing up background checks</a> for gun purchases, two proposals Trump has touted this week.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2" >'I'm pissed': Dad whose daughter was shot 9 times at Florida high school lays into the messed-up state of America at Trump listening session</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-town-hall-on-gun-violence-parkland-florida-highlights-nra-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/8BwIFHE9t1o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Screenshot via CNNhttp://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-town-hall-on-gun-violence-parkland-florida-highlights-nra-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-employee-tim-chevalier-sues-google-diversity-purported-harassment-2018-2A software developer says Google fired him because he spoke out against harassmenthttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/r9Dk9wfOFo4/ex-employee-tim-chevalier-sues-google-diversity-purported-harassment-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 20:57:03 -0500Rob Price<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e17b3391d941f008b4588-1752/gettyimages-684227164.jpg" alt="google ceo sundar pichai" data-mce-source="Justin Sullivan/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivers the keynote address at the Google I/O 2017 Conference at Shoreline Amphitheater on May 17, 2017 in Mountain View, California."></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>A former Google employee is suing the company, saying he was fired after speaking out about purported harassment and in favour of diversity.</strong></li>
<li><strong>It comes after another ex-Googler, James Damore, alleged the company discriminates against white male conservatives.</strong></li>
<li><strong>"An important part of our culture is lively debate," a Google spokesperson said. "But like any workplace, that doesn't mean anything goes."</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><br>SAN FRANCISCO — Google has been hit with another lawsuit alleging that it unjustly fired an employee who spoke out about politics — but this time, the employee is on the political left.</p>
<p>Software developer Tim Chevalier alleges that the technology giant was rife with harassment and discrimination, and that he was dismissed in November 2017 after he spoke out in support of diversity.</p>
<p>In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Chevalier's lawyers allege that he was wrongfully terminated and that Google violated the law by allowing a "hostile work environment."</p>
<p>The case comes after another former Google employee, James Damore, was dismissed after speaking out about the internal politics of the company. Damore's political stance was very different, however: He wrote a memo questioning the appropriateness of Google's pro-diversity efforts, and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/james-damore-just-filed-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-google-saying-it-discriminates-against-white-male-conservatives/">has sued the company claiming it discriminates against white male conservatives</a>.</p>
<p>Chevalier's lawyers allege that Google employees used the company's internal messaging systems and "posted discriminatory and harassing comments," and that Chevalier — who identifies as transgender, disabled, and queer — called it out and "[asked] his peers to reflect on perspectives different from their own."</p>
<p>Damore's memo was among the posts that Chevalier criticised, the suit says, allegedly describing it as "misogynistic."</p>
<p>"Chevalier’s supervisors were critical of Chevalier’s political participation and dismissive of his attempts to change Google’s culture," the suit alleges. "Ultimately, Google fired Chevalier. Human Resources explicitly told Chevalier that Google was ending his employment because of his political statements."</p>
<p>Reached for comment about Chevalier's lawsuit, Google spokesperson Gina Scigliano said in a statement: "An important part of our culture is lively debate. But like any workplace, that doesn't mean anything goes. All employees acknowledge our code of conduct and other workplace policies, under which promoting harmful stereotypes based on race or gender is prohibited."</p>
<p>In a statement, Chevalier said: "It is a cruel irony that Google attempted to justify firing me by claiming that my social networking posts showed bias against my harassers. The anti-discrimination laws are meant to protect marginalized and underrepresented groups- not those who attack them."</p>
<p>The full statement from Google is as follows:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"An important part of our culture is lively debate. But like any workplace, that doesn't mean anything goes. All employees acknowledge our code of conduct and other workplace policies, under which promoting harmful stereotypes based on race or gender is prohibited. This is a very standard expectation that most employers have of their employees. The overwhelming majority of our employees communicate in a way that is consistent with our policies. But when an employee does not, it is something we must take seriously. We always make our decision without any regard to the employee’s political views."</p>
<h2>Here's the full complaint from Tim Chevalier's lawyers:</h2>
<div>
<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fhlOFETdj6G9ihcpINyc5DtK9euOEkkb/preview" width="640" height="480"></iframe>
</div><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sling-tv-vs-cable-tv-i-tried-cutting-the-cord-for-a-month-but-went-back-to-cable-2018-2" >I tried cutting the cord with Sling TV for a month — here's why I returned to cable</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-employee-tim-chevalier-sues-google-diversity-purported-harassment-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bubsy-vest-creates-controlled-pressure-simulates-hug-stress-anxiety-2018-2">This vest could help people cope with anxiety and stress by simulating a hug</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/r9Dk9wfOFo4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Justin Sullivan/Getty Imageshttp://www.businessinsider.com/ex-employee-tim-chevalier-sues-google-diversity-purported-harassment-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2'I am enraged': Father of Parkland shooting victim blasts the listening session Trump held with mass-shooting survivorshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/cEfvWnwKxkI/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 20:26:18 -0500David Choi<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e1280391d944b008b48ad-1367/screen shot 2018-02-21 at 42625 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2018 02 21 at 4.26.25 PM" data-mce-source="CNN" /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The father of a Parkland school shooting victim criticized a listening session President Donald Trump held with survivors and family members of victims of school shootings.</strong></li>
<li><strong>"I want them to look me in the eye and acknowledge the role that guns play in the hunting of my daughter," he said.</strong></li>
<li><strong>He criticized Trump's discussion for dodging what he believed was a glaring factor in school shootings.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />The father of a victim of the Parkland school shooting criticized <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2">a White House listening session President Donald Trump held</a> with&nbsp;survivors and family members of the victims of school shootings on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Fred Guttenberg's 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in the deadly February 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.</p>
<p>"My daughter was hunted last week," Guttenberg said on CNN. "She wasn't just a simple little thing. She was massacred. My daughter, who was the energy in the room. She brought beauty and joy to everyone she was around."</p>
<p>"I am enraged to hear our politicians, including in that little circular sit-down session in the president's office today not be able to use the phrase that guns are a problem," Guttenberg continued. "I am enraged. I want to hear our elected officials, I want them to look me in the eye and acknowledge the role that guns played in the hunting of my daughter."</p>
<p>During the discussion, Trump weighed the merits of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eliminating gun-free zones in schools</a> and allowing armed teachers who have "special training" to access their firearms in schools.</p>
<p>"Gun-free zone to a maniac, because they're all cowards ... is 'Let's go in and let's attack because bullets aren't coming back at us,'" Trump said. "If you do this, and a lot of people are talking about it, and it's certainly a point that we'll discuss, but concealed-carry for teachers and for people of talent, of that type of talent."</p>
<p>Guttenberg took exception to the idea: "And what I heard today, is that 'We need to arm students and teachers so that we'll have shoot-outs in the hallways?' I mean, come on. There was pandemonium. My daughter and other kids were running for their lives."</p>
<p>"So what are we supposed to have? More casualties? I'm enraged," Guttenberg said. "I want to hear real solutions, but you can't talk about real solutions until you can actually say what the problem is. And the problem is guns. And I don't diminish anything else with regard to mental health, or all the other factors because they're all critically important. But guns are the issue."</p>
<p>Guttenberg made his statement moments before a CNN town-hall meeting where lawmakers, such as Rep. Ted Deutch and Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida were set to engage with participants about the best ways to move forward.</p>
<p>"I want to hear people speak truth to action." Guttenberg said.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2" >Trump contradicts an earlier claim he made about concealed carry during listening session with shooting survivors</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/suki-kim-north-korea-sent-hundreds-cheerleaders-olympics-2018-2">Why North Korea sent hundreds of cheerleaders to the Olympics</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/cEfvWnwKxkI" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>CNNhttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-parkland-shooting-response-fred-guttenberg-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-parkland-shooting-survivors-online-harassment-2018-2Twitter wants to shield survivors of the Parkland shooting from online harassment as conspiracy theories spread (TWTR, FB)http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/TfCXZSWIaAo/twitter-parkland-shooting-survivors-online-harassment-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 20:20:58 -0500Kaylee Fagan<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e0f5f391d941c008b46a9-2400/gettyimages-918771708.jpg" alt="florida shooting parkland" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="People hug as they attend a candlelight memorial service for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people on February 15, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Yesterday police arrested 19 year old former student Nikolas Cruz in the killing of the high school students."></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Twitter announced it will be using "anti-spam" and "anti-abuse" tools to protect survivors of the Parkland shooting from harassment on its platform, along with verifying several of the students' accounts.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The survivors of the shooting had been targeted for harassment, with several conspiracy theories circulating on social media that the survivors are paid actors, or that the shooting itself was a "false flag."</strong></li>
<li><strong>Several of the Parkland shooting survivors have become outspoken critics of the gun lobby.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p> </p>
<p>Twitter will be taking steps to protect the survivors of last week's shooting at <span>Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in </span>Parkland<span>, Florida, after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivor-facebook-nra-death-threats-2018-2">some of them were targeted for harassment across social media</a>.</span></p>
<p>"Such behavior goes against everything we stand for at Twitter, and we are taking action on any content that violates our terms of service," the <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/966451618706210817">company tweeted from an official account</a>. </p>
<p>Several of the survivors have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/far-right-fbi-conspiracy-actors-posing-survivors-florida-shooting-2018-2">come under fire from far-right groups and conspiracy theorists online</a>, who have claimed that at least one of the survivors was a paid actor, and that the shooting itself was a staged, so-called "false flag" attack. These claims, in turn, have led to the harassment that Twitter is now trying to guard the survivors against.</p>
<p>Specificially, Twitter says via tweet that "We are also using our anti-spam and anti-abuse tools to weed out malicious automation around these individuals and the topics they are raising. We have also verified a number of survivors' Twitter accounts."</p>
<p>Twitter declined to comment beyond the content of those tweets. </p>
<p>For their part, the survivors of the Parkland shooting, which left 17 dead and many more wounded, have entered the public debate as high-profile supporters of gun control. </p>
<p>However, it seems that this heightened visibility has made them more of a target: Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old survivor of the shooting who's become an outspoken critic of the gun lobby, has said that he was forced to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivor-facebook-nra-death-threats-2018-2">quit Facebook over death threats he recieved from 'NRA cultists.' </a></p>
<p>Meanwhile, Facebook and YouTube were criticized on Wednesday for promoting a video linked to these unsubtantiated conspiracy theories. It <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-promotes-conspiracy-theory-video-florida-shooting-survivor-david-hogg-2018-2">racked up as many as 200,000 views on YouTube before getting removed</a>. </p>
<p>Here's Twitter's announcement: </p>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
We are actively working on reports of targeted abuse and harassment of a number of survivors of the tragic mass shooting in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Parkland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Parkland</a>. Such behavior goes against everything we stand for at Twitter, and we are taking action on any content that violates our terms of service. </p>— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/966451618706210817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
We are also using our anti-spam and anti-abuse tools to weed out malicious automation around these individuals and the topics they are raising. We have also verified a number of survivors' Twitter accounts. </p>— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/966451620182503424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div>
<p> </p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-promotes-conspiracy-theory-video-florida-shooting-survivor-david-hogg-2018-2" >YouTube and Facebook promoted a right-wing conspiracy about a Florida shooting survivor</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-parkland-shooting-survivors-online-harassment-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/TfCXZSWIaAo" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Joe Raedle/Getty Imageshttp://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-parkland-shooting-survivors-online-harassment-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivor-sam-zeif-tells-trump-stricter-gun-control-2018-2Florida shooting survivor implores Trump to pass stricter gun laws: 'Let's never let this happen again. Please. Please.'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/ZUDzjVEoeOQ/florida-shooting-survivor-sam-zeif-tells-trump-stricter-gun-control-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:52:02 -0500Eliza Relman<p><span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e07cee0bd3b19008b4918-1685/screen%20shot%202018-02-21%20at%2063703%20pm.png" alt="Parkland high school student Sam Ze if" data-mce-source="Screenshot/MSNBC" data-mce-caption="Parkland high school student Sam Zeif"></span></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Parkland high school student Sam Zeif, who survived last week's mass shooting, delivered an impassioned plea for stricter gun control during a White House listening session on Wednesday. </strong></li>
<li><strong>"I don't understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war," he said. </strong></li>
<li><strong>Zeif said he no longer feels safe. "I don't know how I'm ever going to step foot in that place again," he said of his high school. </strong></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><span><br>Sam Zeif, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida who survived last week's mass shooting, delivered an impassioned plea for stricter gun control during a White House listening session with President Donald Trump on Wednesday. </span></p>
<p><span>Zeif, who lost one of his closest friends in the shooting, </span><span> said that over the last few years, he had improved his grades, connected with teachers, and begun enjoying school. </span></p>
<p><span>"And now I don't know how I'm ever going to step foot in that place again," he said. </span></p>
<p>The 18-year-old argued that it's too easy to purchase weapons like the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/parkland-florida-deadliest-shootings-in-us-history-all-used-the-ar-15-2018-2">AR-15</a>, which was used by the Florida gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz. </p>
<p>"I don't understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war," he said. "How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How did we not stop this after Columbine? After Sandy Hook?" </p>
<p>He then brought up the example of Australia, which banned automatic and semi-automatic weapons following a mass shooting in 1996. </p>
<p>"Can anyone here guess how many shootings there have been in the schools since then in Australia?" he asked. "Zero."</p>
<p>At the end of his comments, Zeif turned to the president and pleaded with him to act. </p>
<p>"Let's be strong for the fallen who don't have a voice to speak and let's never let this happen again," he said. "Please. Please." </p>
<p>Later on in the discussion, Zeif spoke up again when Trump asked the group to provide suggestions for ways to prevent school shootings and argued that the country could look to states like Maryland, which have stricter, and more effective, gun laws. </p>
<p>"It's not like we have to lose our Second Amendment," he added.</p>
<p>Last week, Zeif tweeted a screenshot of text messages he and his younger brother, Matthew, sent to each other while both boys were inside the school building during the shooting. </p>
<p>Matthew told Sam that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-school-shooting-hero-teacher-2018-2?r=UK&amp;IR=T">his geography teacher, Scott Beigel</a>, had been killed in his classroom.</p>
<p>"Just know, I love you," Matthew wrote. </p>
<p>"I love you too," Sam texted back.</p>
<p>Shortly after, Matthew texted, <span>"My teacher died ... He's sitting in the door way."</span></p>
<p><span>"Scariest part of it all was knowing my little brother was right above me and not knowing if I would ever see him again," <a href="https://twitter.com/szzeif/status/964148278932725760?lang=en">Sam tweeted</a>. "I've never really treated him the way he deserved. Not anymore. Seeing his face outside of school was the most relief I had ever felt. My prayers to all."</span></p>
<p><span>The screenshots of the texts went viral on Twitter and Sam mentioned them during the White House listening session.</span></p>
<p>"I didn't plan for them to go viral I just wanted to share with the world because no brothers, or sisters, or family members, or anyone should ever have to share those texts with anyone — and that's why I'm here." </p>
<h2>Watch the clip below: </h2>
<div>
<iframe src="http://player.theplatform.com/p/7wvmTC/MSNBCEmbeddedOffSite?guid=n_msnbc_brk_parkland_trump_180221" height="500" width="635" scrolling="no" border="no"></iframe>
</div>
<p> </p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2" >Trump ends extraordinary White House session on school shootings by endorsing more guns in schools</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivor-sam-zeif-tells-trump-stricter-gun-control-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/ZUDzjVEoeOQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Screenshot/MSNBChttp://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivor-sam-zeif-tells-trump-stricter-gun-control-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2Trump contradicts an earlier claim he made about concealed carry during listening session with shooting survivorshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/A_1VDnxRIfc/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:58:19 -0500David Choi<p><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e0699e0bd3b1a008b4931-952/rtx4y9tcsmall.jpg" alt="Donald Trump Parkland shooting" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>During a speech to survivors of the Parkland shooting, President Donald Trump appeared to contradict an earlier claim he made about gun reform during his 2016 election campaign.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Trump once tweeted that Hillary Clinton was "wrong" for saying he wanted "guns brought into the school classroom."</strong></li>
<li><strong>On Wednesday, Trump floated the possibility of having more armed teachers in schools to prevent school shootings.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />President Donald Trump's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech to survivors</a> of the Parkland school shooting on Wednesday appeared to contradict an earlier claim he made on gun reform during his 2016 presidential campaign.</p>
<p>"Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom," Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/734231223002894337" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> in May 2016, referring to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. "Wrong!"</p>
<p>But as Trump hosted a listening session at the White House with survivors and family members of victims of school shootings, he floated the possibility of arming more teachers in schools.</p>
<p>"It only works where you have people very adept at using firearms," Trump said. "It would be teachers and coaches."</p>
<p>Trump appeared to suggest that if <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-football-coach-aaron-feis-shot-while-shielding-student-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aaron Feis</a>, an assistant football coach who died while shielding students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, was armed, the gunman would have been stopped sooner: "If the coach had a firearm in his locker when he ran at this guy ... if he had a firearm, he wouldn't have had to run, he would have shot and that would have been the end of it," Trump said.</p>
<p>Trump then went on to weigh the merits of eliminating gun-free zones in schools and allowing armed teachers who have "special training" to access their firearm in schools.</p>
<p>"Gun-free zone to a maniac, because they're all cowards ... is 'Let's go in and let's attack because bullets aren't coming back at us,'" Trump said. "If you do this, and a lot of people are talking about it, and it's certainly a point that we'll discuss, but concealed-carry for teachers and for people of talent, of that type of talent."</p>
<p>At least 17 people were killed in the February 14 shooting at the high school in Parkland, Florida. Supporters of gun reform, many of them <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/parkland-florida-shooting-survivor-david-hogg-fbi-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survivors of the shooting</a>, have called for increased gun-control measures.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-school-shooting-text-message-scanner-2018-2" >Students at the Florida high school sent terrifying, heartbreaking texts during the shooting: 'My teacher died ... He's sitting in the door way'</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/A_1VDnxRIfc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>REUTERS/Jonathan Ernsthttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-gun-teachers-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-notes-at-listening-session-with-florida-shooting-survivors-2018-2Photo shows Trump's personal notes reminding him to say 'I hear you' during a listening session with shooting survivorshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/Kmf3y0syX7o/trump-notes-at-listening-session-with-florida-shooting-survivors-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:20:57 -0500Tara Francis Chan<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a8e0156391d948c018b4605-2000/ap18052826462605.jpg" alt="AP_18052826462605" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump holds notes during a listening session with high school students and teachers in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Survivors and parents of school shootings including last week's massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school attended a listening session at the White House on Wednesday.</strong></li>
<li><strong>A photo shows that President Donald Trump was using a crib sheet of questions to ask the group.</strong></li>
<li><strong>One of the points isn't a question but the statement, "I hear you."</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />Several students and parents affected by school shootings including last week's massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, attended a listening session with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.</p>
<p>But during the meeting an Associated Press photographer managed to capture the crib notes Trump was holding to guide him through the session.</p>
<p>From the photograph, it appears there were at least five points, including:</p>
<p>1.) "What would you most want me to know about your experience?"</p>
<p>2.) "What can we do to help you feel safe?"</p>
<p>3.) "Do you see [unclear] something effective?"</p>
<p>4.) "Resources? Ideas?"</p>
<p>And the last visible point on the sheet was not a question, but seemingly a reminder to be empathetic: "5.) I hear you."</p>
<p>The notes were likely useful to Trump as the students and adults attending didn't hold back.</p>
<p>Andrew Pollack, the father of 18-year-old Meadow Pollack who was killed after being shot nine times by the 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz,said he was "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2">pissed" that little is being done to protect students</a>.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-victims-who-were-killed-injured-missing-2018-2" >These are the victims of the Florida high school shooting</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-notes-at-listening-session-with-florida-shooting-survivors-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/Kmf3y0syX7o" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>AP Photo/Carolyn Kasterhttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-notes-at-listening-session-with-florida-shooting-survivors-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/devin-nunes-asked-russian-bots-on-twitter-to-get-an-article-to-go-viral-2018-2Devin Nunes asked Russian bots to help make an article discrediting the Russia investigation 'go viral'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/HzO6Tf6yM7U/devin-nunes-asked-russian-bots-on-twitter-to-get-an-article-to-go-viral-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:08:39 -0500Michal Kranz<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a8de835e0bd3b25008b492c-805/gettyimages-914642876.jpg" alt="devin nunes" data-mce-source="Win McNamee/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Devin Nunes" data-link="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/914642876" /></p><p><br /><em>Sign up for the latest Russia investigation updates<span>&nbsp;</span><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/the-russia-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Rep. Devin Nunes, the author of a controversial memo on alleged misconduct at the FBI and Department of Justice, sent a tweet asking Russian bots to help him get a tweet to go viral.</strong></li>
<li><strong>In his tweet he linked to an article from The Federalist that claimed to debunk a number of alleged conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Russian bots tied to the Russian Internet Research Agency had previously helped boost the Twitter hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo, which called on the House Intelligence Committee to release Nunes memo.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />Rep. Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, sent a tweet on Wednesday in which he sarcastically called on Russian bots to help an article he had linked to go viral.</p>
<p><span>"Catch up on mainstream media Russian conspiracy theories in this piece by @</span>FDRLST<span> PS-If you are a Russian Bot please make this go viral PSS-If you&rsquo;re not a Russian Bot you will become one if you retweet," Nunes <a href="https://twitter.com/DevinNunes/status/966318608182779904">tweeted</a>.</span></p>
<p>The Russian bots Nunes is referring to are Twitter accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian organization that stood at the center of the multifaceted effort by groups close to the Russian state and President Vladimir Putin to interfere in the 2016 US election. Special counsel Robert Mueller handed down a detailed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-indicts-russians-for-interfering-in-2016-election-2018-2">indictment</a> of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities last week, including the IRA, for "violating US criminal laws in order to interfere with US elections and political processes."</p>
<p>Multiple US intelligence agencies that investigated Russian meddling in the US election have concluded that the interference <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-clarifies-remarks-on-putin-and-russian-meddling-says-he-believes-us-intelligence-agencies-2017-11">did take place</a>. Mueller's indictment casts further light on this interference operation, and points specifically to the IRA as a hub from which hundreds of fake accounts were used to divide the American public and sow political discord online.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Twitter deactivated hundreds of accounts that were likely linked to the operation last year, taking hundreds of thousands of tweets with them.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span>Downplaying Russian influence online</span></h2>
<p><span>The <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/21/how-the-media-enable-rep-adam-schiffs-russian-bot-conspiracy-theories/">article</a> in Nunes's tweet ridiculed alleged conspiracy theories about the Russia investigation and took aim at Rep. Adam Schiff, Nunes's Democratic colleague and the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee.</span></p>
<p><span><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/59d294f35124c9b0789a59a5-800/top-house-intelligence-democrat-intends-to-make-sample-of-russia-bought-facebook-ads-public.jpg" alt="Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks with reporters about the Committee's Russia investigation on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas " data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks with reporters" /></span></p>
<p><span>Among the alleged conspiracy theories the article mentioned was the claim that Russian bots <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/release-the-memo-campaign-russia-linked-twitter-accounts-2018-1">were responsible</a> for the popularization of the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag on Twitter. </span></p>
<p><span>The hashtag had urged the Intelligence Committee to release a controversial memo Nunes had authored on alleged misconduct at the FBI and Justice Department with respect to the Russia investigation. The memo was authorized for release by President Donald Trump earlier this month despite claims that it omitted key details and exposed sensitive classified intelligence proceedings. The president later blocked the release of a rebuttal memo to Nunes's document authored by Schiff.</span></p>
<p>Although the article argues that #ReleaseTheMemo was not pushed by IRA-linked Russian bots, data from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-propaganda-website-tracker-2017-8">Hamilton 68</a>, a website launched last year that says it tracks Russian propaganda in near-real time, seems to suggest otherwise &mdash; during a two-day period in January, the frequency with which these bots tweeted the hashtag skyrocketed by&nbsp;233,000%. The article though also casts doubt on Hamilton 68's methodology, and points to the fact that the site does not disclose which specific accounts it is tracking.<span></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-didnt-fbi-look-into-nikolas-cruz-florida-shooting-2018-2" >A bizarre theory has emerged on right-wing Twitter about why the FBI supposedly failed to look into the Florida shooter</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/devin-nunes-asked-russian-bots-on-twitter-to-get-an-article-to-go-viral-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/HzO6Tf6yM7U" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Win McNamee/Getty Imageshttp://www.businessinsider.com/devin-nunes-asked-russian-bots-on-twitter-to-get-an-article-to-go-viral-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2Trump ends extraordinary White House session on school shootings by endorsing more guns in schoolshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/pJrGDyazWj4/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:01:55 -0500Eliza Relman<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a8dfaf4391d941a008b4649-1929/ap18052800907391.jpg" alt="Donald Trump" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump"></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>President Donald Trump on Wednesday advocated for providing teachers and other school staff with licenses to carry concealed weapons.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Two parents whose children were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 said they were opposed to bringing guns into classrooms. </strong></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p><br>In the midst of an emotional White House listening session on school shootings just a week after the massacre at a Florida school, President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers and other school staff members with concealed weapons to protect themselves and their students. </p>
<p>"If you had a teacher who is adept at firearms it could very well end the attack very quickly," Trump said. </p>
<p>The president argued that bringing firearms into schools, which are largely gun-free zones, as a safety measure would deter attacks and "solve your problem." </p>
<p>"I think they wouldn't go into the schools to start off with — I think it could very well solve your problem," Trump said. "So we'll be doing the background checks, we'll be doing a lot of different things, but we'll certainly be looking at ideas like that." </p>
<p>Trump mentioned that "a lot" of airline pilots carry guns and that the same policy could be effective in schools. </p>
<p>He then asked the group whether they agree or disagree with the proposal. While some parents and family members affected by school shootings said they support concealed carry in schools, others, including parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, said they oppose the idea. </p>
<p>"We can understand both sides. Certainly it's controversial," Trump said. "But we'll study that along with many other ideas." </p>
<p>The president advocated for the legalization of concealed carry on the campaign trail and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/08/donald-trump-i-will-get-rid-of-gun-free-zones-on-schools/?utm_term=.df00eb643469" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said that he would "get rid of gun-free zones in schools"</a> on his "first day in office." </p>
<p>But when 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton argued that Trump would bring guns into classrooms, he denied that he ever advocated for that. </p>
<div>
<p lang="en" data-aria-label-part="0">"Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong!" <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/734231223002894337">he tweeted</a> in May 2016. </p>
<p lang="en" data-aria-label-part="0">Later that month <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/politics/donald-trump-guns/index.html">he said</a>, <span>"I don't want to have guns in classrooms, although in some cases teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly."</span></p>
<p lang="en" data-aria-label-part="0">Shortly after the listening session, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said <a href="https://www.news4jax.com/news/broward-sheriff-plans-to-arm-school-deputies-with-rifles">he would arm school resource deputies with rifles</a>. One such deputy was already armed on the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but he never fired his gun.</p>
</div>
<p>Watch the clip below: </p>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Trump, speaking at a listening session, expressed support for "concealed carry" for teachers.<br><a href="https://t.co/FLvfN9dLGE">https://t.co/FLvfN9dLGE</a></p>— Veronica Rocha (@VeronicaRochaLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/VeronicaRochaLA/status/966437229458419714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2018</a>
</blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2" >'I'm pissed': Dad whose daughter was shot 9 times at Florida high school lays into the messed-up state of America at Trump listening session</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/pJrGDyazWj4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>APhttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-is-hiring-paid-weekend-news-intern-2018-2APPLY NOW: Business Insider is hiring a paid news intern to work weekendshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/uvWhAzzpvRw/business-insider-is-hiring-paid-weekend-news-intern-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:22:58 -0500Lyndsay Hemphill<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a8df0d5391d944b008b4860-1067/insider-inc-nyc-6075.jpg" alt="Insider Inc NYC" data-mce-source="Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider" data-link="https://sarahjacobs.photoshelter.com/index" /></p><p>Business Insider is looking breaking news editorial intern to join our news team in NYC. This intern will be primarily working with our weekend editor, so the schedule for this 40 hour a week&nbsp;internship is Thursday through Monday.</p>
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<p>We need someone who&nbsp;is enthusiastic about social media, curious about politics and tech, and broadly interested in general business and world news.&nbsp;There will be a mixture of original writing and reporting, as well as setting up wires and posts from contributors.&nbsp;</p>
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Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:07:35 -0500Michelle Mark<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a8dffbd391d941d008b4643-2000/gettyimages-922474866.jpg" alt="andrew pollack white house listening session" data-mce-source="Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla" data-mce-caption="Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow Pollack was shot to death last week at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is joined by his sons as he addresses a listening session with U.S. President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House February 21, 2018 in Washington, DC." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>President Donald Trump hosted a listening session at the White House on Wednesday, one week after a mass shooting in Florida left 17 people dead.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Andrew Pollack, the father of one of the victims, gave an impassioned speech, telling Trump he was "pissed" that little has been done to protect students.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Other mass shooting survivors and parents of victims spoke during the event about potential solutions.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The extraordinary, televised listening session went on for more than an hour.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ended the session by suggesting</a> that teachers and other school staff should be allowed licenses to carry concealed weapons in schools.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />A man whose daughter died in last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school gave an enraged speech during n extraordinary listening session at the White House on Wednesday, telling President Donald Trump that "we as a country failed our children."</p>
<p>Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was shot to death by alleged gunman Nikolas Cruz, said he wouldn't rest until students are protected from future shootings.</p>
<p>"My daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week, shot nine times on the third floor," Pollack said. "This shouldn't happen. We go to the airport, I can't get on the plane with a bottle of water, but we leave some animal to walk into a classroom and shoot our children."</p>
<p>The White House hosted several Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students who survived the shooting, along with their parents, parents of students who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, and other teachers and officials. The televised session went on for more than an hour.</p>
<p>Pollack railed against the federal government for tightening airport security in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but doing little to protect schools from potential shooters.</p>
<p>"One school shooting and we all should've fixed it. And I'm pissed! Because my daughter, I'm not going to see again. She's not here," he said, raising his voice. "We protect airports, we protect concerts, stadiums, embassies &mdash; the Department of Education that I walked in today that has a security guard in the elevator. How do you think that makes me feel?"</p>
<p>Pollack added that he didn't believe the immediate issue was about gun laws, but school safety. He said he wanted to "fix the schools" and then let the parties "battle it out" over gun control.</p>
<p>"I'm never going to see my kid again. I want you all to know that," he said. "Never, ever will I see my kid. I want that to sink in &mdash; it's eternity. My beautiful daughter I'm never going to see again. And it's simple. We can fix it."</p>
<h2>'Let's never let this happen again'</h2>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a8deb74391d941d008b45f8-2000/rtx4y9ja.jpg" alt="trump listening session florida survivors" data-mce-source="Reuters/Jonathan Ernst" data-mce-caption="U.S. President Donald Trump bows his head during a prayer as he sits between Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivors and students Julia Cordover and Carson Abt (R) as the president hosts a listening session with high school students and teachers to discuss school safety at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 21, 2018." />Others who attended the session voiced support for stricter gun-control measures. Cary Gruber, whose son Justin survived the shooting and texted him throughout the massacre said that gun laws shouldn't be a political issue.</p>
<p>"If he's not old enough to go buy a drink, buy a beer, he should not be able to buy a gun at 18 years old," he said, referring to Cruz, who legally purchased his AR-15 rifle. "We gotta do something about this. We cannot have our children die, this is just heartbreaking. Please."</p>
<p>One of the students who survived the shooting, Samuel Zeif, pleaded with Trump to enact stricter gun laws, citing Australia as an example of a country that reacted to a 1996 mass shooting by passing legislation restricting ownership of certain types of firearms.</p>
<p>"We need to do something, and that's why we're here," Zeif said. "So let's be strong for the fallen, who don't have a voice to speak anymore, and let's never let this happen again. Please, please."</p>
<p>Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-concealed-carry-in-schools-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voiced support for several ideas</a> to prevent future school shootings, including training teachers to use guns, providing more treatment to people with mental illnesses, and strengthening background checks.</p>
<p>At least one of the session attendees voiced support for arming teachers. One of Meadow Pollack's brothers told Trump that last Wednesday "could have been a very different situation" if teachers carried guns and were trained to shoot.</p>
<p>"Law enforcement takes seven, eight minutes to get there" in an emergency, he said. "If a teacher or a security guard has a concealed license and a firearm on their waist they're able to easily stop the situation. Or the bad guy &mdash; I'll put it that way &mdash; would not even go near the school knowing that someone could fight back against them."</p>
<p>Trump said at the start of the listening session he intended to focus on strengthening the federal background-check system for firearms purchases. He also announced on Tuesday he had <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-bump-stock-ban-after-florida-shooting-las-vegas-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">directed the Justice Department</a> to craft regulations banning "bump stock" devices, which were used by the Las Vegas shooter last year to accelerate his fire.</p>
<p>The session came on the same day that thousands of students in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/school-walkouts-protest-gun-violence-after-florida-shooting-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida and Maryland staged school walkouts</a> to protest gun violence and rally for stricter gun-control measures.</p>
<h2>Here are some of the most compelling quotes from the session:</h2>
<ul>
<li><span><strong>Ariana Klein, Florida shooting survivor</strong>: "Everybody right now is so stuck on what they believe that they're not listening to what other people believe. We need to listen to the other points of views &hellip; The solution is not going to be a singular thing, it's going to be multifaceted."</span></li>
<li><span><strong>Samuel Zaif, Florida shooting survivor</strong>: "These are not weapons of defense, they are weapons of war. I still can't fathom that I, myself, am able to purchase one."</span></li>
<li><span><strong>Jonathan Blank, Florida shooting survivor</strong>: "Everything seems fake. I don't even know what's going on. It's crazy."</span></li>
<li><span><strong>Justin Gruber, Florida shooting survivor</strong>: I'm only 15 years old. I'm a sophomore. Nineteen years ago, the first school shooting at Columbine High School happened. I was born into a world where I never got to experience safety and peace."</span></li>
<li><span><strong>Julie Cordover, Parkland's student body president</strong>: "I appreciate you looking at bump stocks yesterday. It's definitely a step in the right direction, I think we can all agree on that."</span></li>
<li><span><strong>Christine Hunschofsky, Mayor of Parkland</strong>: "What is the positive impact of having legislation that bans assault rifles? It could save a life. And that needs to be a priority in any case &hellip; We have a right to free speech, but if free speech in any way endangers someone, it's restricted."</span></li>
</ul><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/school-walkouts-protest-gun-violence-after-florida-shooting-2018-2" >Thousands of students scold lawmakers in Florida and Washington over gun violence ahead of planned national school walkout</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gun-control-poll-americans-support-assault-weapons-ban-after-florida-shooting-2018-2" >The American public could be at a turning point on gun control</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/D66d-y7_fsc" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Getty Images/Chip Somodevillahttp://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-survivors-parents-attend-trump-white-house-listening-session-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guns-mental-health-shootings-2018-2There’s a surprisingly strong link between mental health and gun violence, but it probably isn’t what you thinkhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/mqCWiYV8-v4/trump-guns-mental-health-shootings-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:00:00 -0500Hilary Brueck<p><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5a8b3a68d0307290048b4689-2400/david hogg florida school shooting rally.jpg" alt="david hogg florida school shooting rally" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="David Hogg, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, speaks at a rally calling for more gun control three days after the shooting at his school, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, February 17, 2018." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>US politicians like President Donald Trump have blamed recent deadly shootings on individuals' <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-does-mental-illness-lead-to-violence-2018-2">mental health problems</a>.</strong></li>
<li><strong>But mental health issues aren't predictive of violent outbursts:&nbsp;</strong><strong>Although one in five Americans struggle with mental illness, people with mental health problems account for just 3% of violent crime.</strong></li>
<li><strong>There is a different, notable link between violence and mental illness: People with major mental illnesses are 2.5 times more likely to be the victims of violent outbursts than the general public.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><strong><br /></strong>As mass shootings by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-almost-all-have-domestic-violence-connection-2017-11">young, angry men armed with machine guns</a>&nbsp;become deadlier and more frequent in the US, politicians like President Donald Trump have suggested that mental health problems may be fueling these violent massacres.</p>
<p><span>"So many signs that the </span>Florida shooter was mentally disturbed,<span> even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior," Trump tweeted </span><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">after the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people</a><span>. "Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!"</span>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Although reporting worrisome behavior is a good idea, the scientific evidence about the connection between violence and mental health issues doesn't support Trump's position.</p>
<p><span>Nikolas Cruz,&nbsp;</span>the 19-year-old former student who shot up his Florida high school last week, had a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-shooting-suspect-nicolas-cruz-troubled-family-life-disturbed-2018-2">reportedly checkered history</a> of jealous and violent outbursts &mdash; but that's not the same thing as a bona fide mental health diagnosis.</p>
<h2>Mass shooters don't usually have diagnosed mental health issues</h2>
<p>In 2015, psychiatrist Michael Stone catalogued a <a href="http://files.www.cmhnetwork.org/news/Mass_Murder_Mental_Illness_and_Men.pdf">comprehensive database</a> of more than 235 mass murders committed in the US. He found that in reality, about a quarter of the perpetrators of those acts were "clearly mentally ill."</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a8652bed0307218008b4570-2400/gettyimages-918771708.jpg" alt="florida shooting parkland" data-mce-source="Joe Raedle/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="People hug as they attend a candlelight memorial service for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people on February 15, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. Yesterday police arrested 19 year old former student Nikolas Cruz in the killing of the high school students." /></p>
<p>But the majority of the rage-filled, bigoted, grudge-holding men who plan these kinds of tragic killings aren't necessarily mentally ill, Stone said.</p>
<p>Stone said many people assume that because someone has committed a deadly act, that must mean they're crazy. But that's not true.</p>
<p>In fact, according to the American Psychiatric Association, people with serious mental health problems account for <a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099">just 3% of all violent crime</a>, though as many as <a href="https://www.nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/Infographics/GeneralMHFacts.pdf">one in five people in the US</a> experience a mental illness every year.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/4-of-violence-involves-mental-illness-2016-6">Most mentally ill people are never violent</a><span>. Information from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318286/">National Center for Health Statistics</a>&nbsp;similarly shows that fewer than 5% of the 120,000 gun-related killings in the US between 2001 and 2010 were perpetrated by people diagnosed with mental illness. Only&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26073414">1%</a>&nbsp;of discharged psychiatric patients commit violence against strangers using a gun. And the mentally ill also&nbsp;<a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099">account for less than 3%</a>&nbsp;of all violent acts with guns.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Data from&nbsp;<a href="https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.5555/appi.books.9781615371099">American Psychiatric Association</a>&nbsp;suggests Americans are about 15 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by a stranger with a mental diagnosis.</span></p>
<p>According to Stone's research, even shooters who are mentally ill aren't typically on anyone's radar before they act. Three of the most dramatic mass murders by people with diagnosable mental illness in recent history include the shooting at Sandy Hook that killed 27 (Adam Lanza), the movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado that killed 12 in 2012 (James Holmes), and the six people who died in Tucson when Rep Gaby Giffords was shot in 2011 (Jared Lee Loughner).</p>
<p>The perpetrators of these deadly crimes were all "young men, barely 20, with no record of previous mental hospitalizations and no compelling reason why they should not have been permitted to buy rifles," Stone said.&nbsp;</p>
<p><span>Of course, mental illness often goes undiagnosed.&nbsp;Estimates suggest it's actually more common in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/fact_sheet.html">cancer and heart disease</a>. According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/fact_sheet.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,</a>&nbsp;roughly 80 million American adults are struggling with a mental illness at any given time, which is a far cry from the <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml">19.2 million</a> that successfully seek treatment every year.&nbsp;</span><span>The <a href="http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/data-behavioral-health.aspx">American Psychological Association</a>&nbsp;estimates that only about a third of depressed patients in the US ever get diagnosed by their primary care doctors. </span></p>
<p><span>But given that mental health problems are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml">more common among women</a> than men, and just as common in the US as all other highly developed countries, mental health is <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/mental-illness-and-violence">not a logical explanation</a> for America's mass shooting problem.&nbsp;</span></p>
<h2><span>People with mental health problems are more likely to be victims </span></h2>
<p><span>Experts say that legislation restricting mentally ill people from getting guns would not do much to stop the deadly carnage the US now sees on a regular basis.</span></p>
<p><span>But there is a link between mental health issues and violence. Time and again, studies have shown that mentally ill patients are&nbsp;<a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301680">two to three times more likely</a> to be the victims of violent crime than other people. </span></p>
<p><span>I</span><span>f someone has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, that number jumps to 12 times the normal rate. </span></p>
<p><span>Researchers suggest that people struggling with mental illnesses might face an increased risk for victimization because they tend to live in more dangerous places (like on the streets or in group homes), deal with drug and alcohol addiction, or become irritable, paranoid, and less aware of their surroundings.</span></p>
<h2><span>If mentally ill people aren't committing mass murder, who is?&nbsp;</span></h2>
<p><span>People who study violent events say there is a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/deadliest-mass-shootings-almost-all-have-domestic-violence-connection-2017-11">well-established pattern</a> among most mass shooters: They're typically angry young men who feel they've been "wronged" and are looking for revenge.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Forensic psychiatrist Liza Gold teaches at Georgetown and edited the book "<a href="https://www.appi.org/Gun_Violence_and_Mental_Illness">Gun Violence and Mental Illness</a>."&nbsp;</span><span>She told Business Insider in 2017 that mass shooters tend to be "impulsive and angry about a lot of different things" and many have a history with law enforcement or violence, especially domestic violence.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Overall, the ratio of male killers to female killers in Stone's cataloged, which dates back to 1913 in the US,&nbsp;<a href="http://files.www.cmhnetwork.org/news/Mass_Murder_Mental_Illness_and_Men.pdf">is 24 to 1</a>.&nbsp;</span><span>Stone says that makes sense psychologically, since men have been shown to be more likely to take out their aggression and anger on the outside world. Women, on the other hand, tend to be more "intropunitive" and blame themselves for their anger. </span></p>
<p><span>The men who go on killing sprees also tend to be young (roughly 85% are under the age of 44) and working-class.&nbsp;</span><span>A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1525086/">2003 study</a> in the journal World Psychiatry summed the profile up this way: "the major determinants of violence continue to be socio-demographic and socio-economic factors such as being young, male, and of lower socio-economic status."</span></p>
<p><span>That's not something that can be alleviated with more mental health treatment, but it is a worrisome trend that seems likely to continue if young, rageful American men continue to have easy access to guns.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-church-shooting-mental-health-gun-violence-mass-shootings-sutherland-springs-2017-11" >Trump called the shooting in Texas a 'mental-health issue’ — but scientific evidence says otherwise</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guns-mental-health-shootings-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/noise-pollution-effects-human-hearing-health-quality-of-life-2018-1">Noise pollution is a bigger threat to your health than you may think, and Americans aren't taking it seriously</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/mqCWiYV8-v4" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Thomson Reutershttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guns-mental-health-shootings-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-military-intervention-rio-security-national-model-2018-2Brazil has committed to an 'extreme measure' to combat crime in Rio — and it could be a model for the rest of the countryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/UmjlxcJ4Zyk/brazil-military-intervention-rio-security-national-model-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 16:24:53 -0500Christopher Woody<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a8db7d687faf223008b46db-1400/rtx4xym9.jpg" alt="Brazil Rio de Janeiro military troops police" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Pilar Olivares" data-mce-caption="Members of the armed forces patrol the Kelson's slum during an operation against crime in Rio de Janeiro, February 20, 2018." /></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Brazil's legislature has approved the military intervention in Rio de Janeiro decreed by President Michel Temer last week.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Deployments of troops to Rio are not new, but the latest measure gives the military control of public security there.</strong></li>
<li><strong>The intervention has brought a new round of warnings about relying on the military for civilian security operations.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><br />On Tuesday, hours after Brazil's lower house of congress overwhelmingly <a href="https://twitter.com/chrstphr_woody/status/965823970774867969" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backed</a> the military's takeover of public security in Rio de Janeiro, the Senate gave the measure <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-brazil-senate-gives-final-approval-to-rio-security-intervention-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">final approval</a>, voting 55 to 13 in favor.</p>
<p>"Together, the police and the armed forces will combat and confront those who have kidnapped our cities," President Michel Temer said on Friday, when he <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazils-army-taking-over-security-in-rio-de-janeiro-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed the decree deploying the military</a> to Rio. "I know it's an extreme measure but many times Brazil requires extreme measures to put things in order."</p>
<p>Gangs have "virtually taken over" Rio's metropolitan area, home to 12 million of the state's 17 million people, Temer said. The state's governor will retain control of the government, but the military will report to an army general who will report to Temer, which will <a href="https://apnews.com/47b0005f10d3478a85b0198ac4de46de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ensure</a> civilian oversight of the armed forces, the president has stressed.</p>
<p>It is the first military intervention since Brazil's military dictatorship fell in 1985.</p>
<p>Rio de Janeiro has been plagued by worsening violence for several years, and Temer's decree came just a few days after the end of Rio's famed Carnival celebration, which was marked by violence and displays critiquing the government's response to it.</p>
<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a85b41cd030721b008b4934-2400/ap18044302292154.jpg" alt="carnival rio brazil" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo" /></p>
<p>Television networks showed <a href="https://www.apnews.com/2af5b59f4c014264bf44fa33cbf55f64/Violence-during-Rio-Carnival-spotlights-security-woes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">footage</a> of shootouts between gangs and of young men attacking tourists in areas usually considered safe, including Ipanema beach. Three military police officers were killed. The state governor <a href="https://apnews.com/2af5b59f4c014264bf44fa33cbf55f64" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> that his administration was not prepared to provide security and said authorities confiscated an "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/14/world/americas/brazil-rio-de-janeiro-carnival-violence.html?smid=tw-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">incredible</a>" number of firearms.</p>
<p>The state government initially said crime went down during this year's festivities, but data obtained by Rio newspaper O Dia <a href="https://odia.ig.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/2018/02/5514824-no-carnaval-roubos-de-rua-subiram-107-em-relacao-a-festa-de-2017.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> that even as homicides declined, robberies and car thefts increased.</p>
<h2>'A steep deterioration'</h2>
<p>2018 has gotten off to a violent start for Rio. There were <a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/americas/brazil/crime-ridden-brazil-gets-off-to-a-bloody-start-in-2018-1.2168052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">688 shootings</a> in the state in January &mdash; many in the sprawling, often poor and marginalized neighborhoods known as favelas, where authorities have little presence.</p>
<p>Violence in Rio is not as severe as in other parts of the country &mdash; in 2016 it was <a href="https://apnews.com/47b0005f10d3478a85b0198ac4de46de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11th among states</a> in Brazil in terms of homicide rate. But it is one of Brazil's most well-known locales, and insecurity there has intensified in recent years &mdash; especially <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-violence-chaos-plagues-rio-one-year-after-olympics-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">after hosting</a> the 2016 Olympics.</p>
<p>In the years after Rio was awarded the 2016 games, the state government invested heavily in security. In 2008, it implemented <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/how-brazils-big-policing-experiment-failed-to-make-rio-safer-for-theolympics/article31222945/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacification Police Units</a>, sending police into communities where gangs and violence were problems. They were to be followed by social programs meant to reincorporate the community into the city and establish bulwarks against criminal influence.</p>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a8dbb2de0bd3b5f058b477f-1400/ap18051576148317.jpg" alt="Brazil Rio de Janeiro soldiers troops police" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Leo Correa" data-mce-caption="A Brazilian marine helps a woman with her bicycle as an armored vehicle removes a barricade during a surprise operation in Kelson's slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 20, 2018." /></p>
<p>The UPP program was "initially very successful in bringing areas under state control, where previously drug traffickers were the primary organization," <a href="https://www.controlrisks.com/who-we-are/our-experts/expert-bio/thomaz-favaro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thomaz Favaro</a>, a regional analyst for Control Risks, told Business Insider in a January interview. "And over a period of time this strategy did prove partially successful. It did bring crime down. It did allow the government to regain control of some of these favelas."</p>
<p>But as Rio started to struggle financially amid <a href="http://americasquarterly.org/content/violence-rio-de-janeiro-needs-much-more-quick-fix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a broader recession</a> in Brazil, the initiative faltered. It was hamstrung by budget cuts, while police have found themselves <a href="https://apnews.com/47b0005f10d3478a85b0198ac4de46de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">going without</a> supplies, and, in some cases, pay. (The state and police were also <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/violence-in-rio-de-janeiro-military-police-deployed-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criticized</a> for failing to fully implement and adjust to the programs.)</p>
<p>"Over the last two, three years with dwindling resources for public-security forces, the drug traffickers have been able to regain control over some of these areas. So you're already seeing that in some areas where the government had the upper hand, it no longer has" it, Favaro said. "And that's leading to a steep deterioration of the security environment in Rio de Janeiro."</p>
<p>Recent years have seen numerous military deployments to Rio &mdash; thousands of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-brazil-army-deploys-in-rio-slum-as-drug-related-violence-worsens-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">troops flooded</a> parts of the city on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazils-army-taking-over-security-in-rio-de-janeiro-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several occasions last year</a> &mdash; but their presence has done little to reduce crime and insecurity, while <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/violence-in-rio-de-janeiro-military-police-deployed-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports of abuses</a> have increased.</p>
<p>Shootouts, between police and criminals and between rival criminal groups, are common, forcing residents to take cover. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/violence-in-rio-de-janeiro-military-police-deployed-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Deaths from stray bullets</a> have increased considerably.</p>
<h2>'W<span>hat will the Army will do? Shoot?'</span></h2>
<p><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a8dc992391d941f008b4633-1400/ap18051545883902.jpg" alt="Brazil Rio de Janeiro police troops" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Leo Correa" data-mce-caption="A masked police officer with a suspect in handcuffs next to Brazilian marines during a surprise operation in Kelson's slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 20, 2018." /></p>
<p><span>Brazil's current political environment &mdash; Temer's single-digit approval ratings, his foundering effort to pass pension reform, and with politicians facing October elections &mdash; has led to suspicions that Temer's latest moves in Rio are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazils-army-taking-over-security-in-rio-de-janeiro-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">politically motivated</a>. (Though military intervention is broadly popular, among <a href="http://americasquarterly.org/content/violence-rio-de-janeiro-needs-much-more-quick-fix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rio residents</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-facing-scandal-and-crises-and-military-may-get-involved-2017-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brazilians more generally</a>.)</span></p>
<p>Temer's government has touted federal intervention as the best way to address the situation there and gone further in recent days, suggesting the city and policies pursued there could serve as a model for other parts of the country.</p>
<p><span>"It's important to understand that Rio de Janeiro is a laboratory," Institutional Security Minister Sergio Etchegoyen said on Monday, after a meeting with Temer to discuss the intervention, <a href="https://apnews.com/47b0005f10d3478a85b0198ac4de46de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Associated Press. "It's the outward manifestation of a structural crisis."</span></p>
<p><span>"I believe that this is one more step along the road of being able to restore security, order and, above all, confidence to residents of Rio de Janeiro state," said Wellington Moreira Franco, the secretary-general of the presidency. "This spirit is being mobilized so that ... this conversation, this methodology can spread throughout Brazil."</span></p>
<p><span><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5a44e87e5124c9496330ea69-800/brazil-top-prosecutor-challenges-president-temers-christmas-pardons.jpg" alt="Presidente Michel Temer durante cerim&ocirc;nia no Pal&aacute;cio do Planalto, em Bras&iacute;lia 21/12/2017 REUTERS/Adriano Machado" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Presidente Michel Temer durante cerim&ocirc;nia no Pal&aacute;cio do Planalto, em Bras&iacute;lia" /></span></p>
<p><span>Despite the government's assurances about civilian oversight of the military, its deployment to Rio and suggestions it could take a larger role elsewhere have raised concerns about abuses and its past ineffectiveness &mdash; especially after Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said authorities would seek <a href="https://apnews.com/47b0005f10d3478a85b0198ac4de46de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broader warrants</a> that could list an entire street or even neighborhood rather than just an address.</span></p>
<p><span>"The Army does not have the capacity and training to address a security problem that exists in Rio. Public security depends mainly on investigations, and the Army does not investigate," Ignacio Cano, a sociologist at the Violence Analysis Laboratory at Rio's state university, <a href="https://odia.ig.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/2018/02/5514824-no-carnaval-roubos-de-rua-subiram-107-em-relacao-a-festa-de-2017.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told O Dia</a> after the decree was announced. </span><span>"When it arrives in the community, what will the Army will do? Shoot?"</span></p>
<p><span>Even the commander of Brazil's army, Gen. Eduardo Villas Boas, has cautioned against relying on the military for civilian security, <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/brazil-military-chief-warns-corruption-politicization-armed-forces-deployed-public-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying in January</a> that such operations could deepen corruption among soldiers. The "simple deployment of the armed forces does not have the capacity, in and of itself, to resolve the public security issues" facing Brazil, he said.</span></p>
<p><span>During an event with Temer over the weekend, Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Luiz Fernando Pez&atilde;o <a href="https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/brazil-officials-propose-expanding-military-role-war-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praised</a> the federal response, but stressed the need for additional measures. "But we need a lot of jobs, that economic activity grows," <a href="http://brasil.estadao.com.br/noticias/rio-de-janeiro,guerra-da-seguranca-so-sera-ganha-com-desenvolvimento-e-emprego-diz-pezao,70002196476" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he said</a> to the president. "We'll only win the war for public security with work permits."</span></p>
<p><span>"The federal government currently just provides emergency support for the states who are struggling the most with the security situation. Rio is one of them," Favaro said in January, explaining that public security has typically been the remit of state governments. (The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-rio-police-say-thin-blue-line-breaking-after-100th-death-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">military police</a>, who handle street patrols and make arrests, are somewhat insulated from civilian oversight.)</span></p>
<p>"I think sort of the lack of new initiatives, fresh initiatives, even dedication to specific concerns is certainly one of the key reasons why the security environment hasn't improved," Favaro said.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazils-army-taking-over-security-in-rio-de-janeiro-2018-2" >Brazil is taking an 'extreme measure' to confront crime in Rio — the first time it's done so since the country's dictatorship fell</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-military-intervention-rio-security-national-model-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rio-olympics-hosting-year-later-brazil-2017-8">The Rio Olympics were only a year ago, but the venues look like they've been deserted for decades</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/UmjlxcJ4Zyk" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>REUTERS/Pilar Olivareshttp://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-military-intervention-rio-security-national-model-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/father-didnt-go-through-with-school-shooting-because-he-didnt-have-a-gun-2018-2'I was going to try and kill a lot of people': A man who says he 'was almost a school shooter' as a kid opens up about what kept him from doing ithttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/Hni4QLlPqyg/father-didnt-go-through-with-school-shooting-because-he-didnt-have-a-gun-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 16:12:27 -0500Michal Kranz<p><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5a8da53c391d9468008b4616-800/screen%20shot%202018-02-21%20at%20115720%20am.png" alt="aaron stark msnbc" data-mce-source="Screenshot via MSNBC" data-mce-caption="Aaron Stark on MSNBC" data-link="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-father-writes-open-letter-after-parkland-massacre-i-was-n849726?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma"></p><p></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>A Colorado man wrote an open letter in which he said he "was almost a school shooter" but didn't carry out such an attack because he lacked access to guns.</strong></li>
<li><strong>He told MSNBC that he believes love and connectedness, like a random act of kindness from a friend, could help prevent mass shootings.</strong></li>
<li><strong>"I had a severe lack of love, and I really think this kid did too," he wrote, referring to the 19-year-old charged in last week's shooting at a high school in Florida.</strong></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>A Colorado man <a href="http://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/i-was-almost-a-school-shooter/73-520738916">said in a letter</a> to a Denver news station said he "was almost a school shooter" but is not because he "didn't have access to guns."</p>
<p>In the letter, Aaron Stark says that as a high schooler in Denver in 1996, he was bullied and began stockpiling small weapons. But he lacked easy access to high-powered guns like the assault rifle used in last week's shooting at a high school in Florida that left 17 people dead.</p>
<p>"Guns don't kill people, people kill people," Stark wrote. "But people with guns kill lots of people."</p>
<p>Stark's letter describes a rough childhood in which he was abused and neglected at home and faced relentless bullying at school for his weight, intelligence, and often unwashed clothes.</p>
<p>Depressed and homicidal, Stark felt he had nothing to live for, he said.</p>
<p>"When someone has nothing to lose, they can do anything, and that thought should be terrifying," he wrote.</p>
<p>During an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-father-writes-open-letter-after-parkland-massacre-i-was-n849726?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma">emotional interview on MSNBC</a> on Tuesday, he said: "I was going to try and kill a lot of people and then kill myself. It was not directed at the people; it was directed at myself."</p>
<p>Stark told MSNBC that while "we really need to have a hard look at the effect that guns have," he believes that ultimately love and connectedness can help prevent mass shootings.</p>
<p>Stark drew parallels between his life and that of Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old charged in the Florida school shooting.</p>
<p>Cruz is said to have had a troubled upbringing and felt disconnected from his home life. After his adoptive mother died last year, Cruz stayed with a family, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/us/florida-shooting-nikolas-cruz-snead-family/index.html">who told CNN this week</a> that he described himself as depressed.</p>
<p>Stark wrote in his letter: "So yes, mental health was an issue. A bigger issue was love. I had a severe lack of love, and I really think this kid did too."</p>
<p>When asked during the MSNBC interview whether love alone had been enough to stop him from acting on his homicidal and suicidal feelings, Stark shared a heartfelt personal story.</p>
<p>"I was extremely suicidal one evening, and a friend of mine, without having any idea what was going on and what state I was in, invited me over for a party that I didn't know was existing," he said tearfully. "She had baked me a blueberry-peach pie, and I got there, and everybody had the pie, and it was all for me."</p>
<p>He said that made the difference.</p>
<p>"That literally saved my life that night," he said. "I wasn't going to survive that night if that hadn't happened."</p>
<h2>Watch Stark's interview:</h2>
<div>
<iframe src="https://www.nbcnews.com/widget/video-embed/1165808707912" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-support-gun-control-after-florida-shooting-kasich-curbelo-limbaugh-2018-2" >'I want to get something done': After Florida shooting, some Republicans sound serious about passing gun control laws</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/father-didnt-go-through-with-school-shooting-because-he-didnt-have-a-gun-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/Hni4QLlPqyg" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Screenshot via MSNBChttp://www.businessinsider.com/father-didnt-go-through-with-school-shooting-because-he-didnt-have-a-gun-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-trump-bodyguard-keith-schiller-slush-fund-payments-2018-2The RNC is reportedly paying Trump's former bodyguard $15,000 a month from a 'slush fund'http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/rFsRDqEbmys/rnc-trump-bodyguard-keith-schiller-slush-fund-payments-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 15:43:11 -0500Eliza Relman<p><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5a8dce48391d9468008b46c6-1280/ap17122493087085.jpg" alt="President Donald Trump with Keith Schiller" data-mce-source="Evan Vucci/AP" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump with Keith Schiller" /></p><p></p>
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<li><strong>Keith Schiller, President Donald Trump's former bodyguard and confidante, has been paid $15,000 per month by the Republican National Committee since he left the White House in September,&nbsp;CNBC reported Wednesday.</strong></li>
<li>
<p><strong>The RNC has paid Schiller's private security firm, KS Global Group, $75,000 since October 2017 in exchange for his work on the site selection process for the 2020 Republican National Convention.</strong></p>
</li>
</ul>
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<p><span><br />Keith Schiller, President Donald Trump's former bodyguard and confidante, has reportedly been paid $15,000 per month by the Republican National Committee since he left the White House in September,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/02/21/trumps-ex-bodyguard-makes-15000-a-month-from-a-gop-slush-fund.html">CNBC reported Wednesday</a>.</span></p>
<p>The RNC has paid Schiller's private security firm, KS Global Group, $75,000 since October 2017 in exchange for his work on the site selection process for the 2020 Republican National Convention.</p>
<p><span>The former director of Oval Office operations and a 20-year Trump aide, Schiller served as a conduit between Trump and his associates outside the West Wing, reliably delivering the president information and news stories before White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kelly-chief-of-staff-trump-role-2017-8">implemented new restrictions</a>&nbsp;on his role.</span></p>
<p><span>If Schiller continues to receive this monthly payment from the RNC until the convention, he'll likely collect more than $500,000, CNBC noted.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Stephen Spaulding, former special counsel at the Federal Election Commission who now works at the liberal-leaning watchdog group Common Cause, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/02/21/trumps-ex-bodyguard-makes-15000-a-month-from-a-gop-slush-fund.html">told CNBC</a> that party accounts like the one being used to pay Schiller are "notorious for being operated as slush funds &mdash; lightly regulated and ripe for abuse."&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>And the amount Schiller collects is more than he made both in the White House &mdash; where his annual salary was $165,000 &mdash; and on the Trump campaign, which reported paying him $10,000 per month beginning in July 2016.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>Schiller&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/keith-schiller-trump-bodyguard-russia-women-2017-11">made news in November</a> when he privately testified before the House Intelligence Committee about allegations made in an explosive dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, which purported to show the Trump campaign's complicity with Russian interference in the 2016 election. </span></p>
<p><span>During his testimony, Schiller said he rejected an offer from a Russian to "send five women" to Trump's Moscow hotel room in 2013.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span>"We don't do that type of stuff," Schiller reportedly told the Russian.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>Last week, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/trumps-inaugural-committee-paid-26-million-to-first-ladys-friend.html?mtrref=undefined">The New York Times reported</a> that&nbsp;<span>Trump's inaugural committee paid more than $25 million to an event-planning firm founded by a close adviser to first lady Melania Trump while donating $5 million, a lower-than-expected total, to charity.</span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/keith-schiller-trump-bodyguard-russia-women-2017-11" >Trump's longtime bodyguard testified that Russia offered women to Trump while he was in Moscow</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-trump-bodyguard-keith-schiller-slush-fund-payments-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-cofounder-on-how-to-really-make-america-great-patrisse-cullors-trayvon-martin-2018-2">How to make America great — according to one of the three cofounders of Black Lives Matter</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/rFsRDqEbmys" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Evan Vucci/APhttp://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-trump-bodyguard-keith-schiller-slush-fund-payments-2018-2http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gun-control-position-doesnt-matter-2018-2It doesn't really matter what Trump thinks of gun controlhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~3/511IUysH0tQ/trump-gun-control-position-doesnt-matter-2018-2
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 15:39:12 -0500Linette Lopez<p><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5a899d335124c97a3027026b-800/trump-accuses-fbi-of-spending-too-much-time-on-russia-probe.jpg" alt="FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on immigration reform in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington" /></p><p></p>
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<li><strong>It doesn't really matter what Trump thinks about gun control.</strong></li>
<li><strong>He can't do much without Congress, and he doesn't have the political experience or skill to bend his party to his will on this issue.</strong></li>
<li><strong>He also owes pro-gun voters a lot.</strong></li>
</ul>
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<p>It doesn't really matter what President Donald Trump thinks about gun control.</p>
<p>It seems that the 17 Americans killed at&nbsp;<span>Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/school-walkouts-protest-gun-violence-after-florida-shooting-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outspoken, brave survivors who will not allow the country to forget about them</a> are making something of an impact on the president. He has started asking questions <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-position-on-gun-reform-stronger-background-checks-2018-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about what he can do about background checks</a>, and more.</span>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And sure, we may be curious about how he feels about all this since he's the president of the United States. Maybe his views will be a comfort to someone who agrees with them.</p>
<p>But the reality is, figuring out he what he thinks about this is a useless exercise. His powers are limited on this issue. He's had pro-gun-control predecessors in his office and they haven't been able to do much. President Barack Obama's views on gun control were well known and maligned by the gun lobby, but that didn't do much but propel gun sales during his tenure.</p>
<p>Even more limited than Trump's power is his general knowledge of how to do his job effectively, which is a major impediment to doing anything as difficult as convincing GOP congressmen to turn against their donor, the National Rifle Association. Already,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/21/trump-gun-control-house-republicans-419746">conservatives are fighting him</a> on legislation that would require stricter background checks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Trump's questions don't seem to inspiring the Florida state legislature, either, which would not even debate the issue of bringing up a vote on an assault-weapons ban as survivors of&nbsp;<span>Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School looked on.</span></p>
<p>Add to all this the fact that Trump's base largely opposes gun control measures, and the $30 million his campaign accepted from the NRA. No matter what he says after the tragedy<span>, it's hard to see him moving to far against his donors and his base.</span></p>
<p><span>Trump's administration has jolted from scandal to scandal, giving the entire nation a sense of whiplash and timelessness thanks to its incompetence. It's hard not to put that in the center of everything, but gun control is bigger than that. It's an issue that will require appealing to legislators and their voters, and making a show of the fact that the majority of <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/oct/03/chris-abele/do-90-americans-support-background-checks-all-gun-/">Americans do want stricter rules around purchasing a gun.</a></span></p>
<p><span>This is about gun control advocates being bigger than Trump, louder than his base, and more intimidating at the ballot box. So it doesn't really matter what he thinks. That's a side show.</span><span></span></p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/parkland-florida-school-shooting-what-trump-nra-get-about-people-2018-2" >Here's what Donald Trump and the NRA get about humans that you don't</a></strong></p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gun-control-position-doesnt-matter-2018-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/suki-kim-north-korea-sent-hundreds-cheerleaders-olympics-2018-2">Why North Korea sent hundreds of cheerleaders to the Olympics</a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/businessinsider/politics/~4/511IUysH0tQ" height="1" width="1" alt=""/>Thomson Reutershttp://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gun-control-position-doesnt-matter-2018-2